{Hope for the Home} Linky Party: 12 Activities to Keep Easter Alive All Year Long

Another Easter has come and gone. My favorite holiday is over. Sigh.

All that remains is a house full of empty baskets, plastic eggs and sugar-crazed children.

But I don't want Easter to be over. I want these beautiful boys of mine {yes, I know I am biased but seriously...beautiful} to marvel in the resurrection all year long. It is not simply an event that took place 2000 years ago or even a once a year celebration. It is a way of life.

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. {Philippians 3:10-12}

I want to keep Easter alive in our hearts and home all year round. Will you join me?

And yes, we Texans love our bluebonnets! ;)

As soon as Easter is over, make an Easter Egg Countdown using 12 of your leftover plastic eggs. Inside each egg write 1 of the following activities on a piece of paper. Open 1 egg together as a family at the beginning of the corresponding month and be sure to complete that activity together before the month is over. When you have completed all 12 activities it will be time for Easter again and you can go here for 12 Ways to Make Easter about Jesus!

{1} April: Read Five Ways to Celebrate Easter Every Day and make a list of how you can incorporate these suggestions into your everyday lives.

{2} May: Grow Monarch Butterflies or build a Butterfly Garden and discuss the fact that in Christ we have new life and are a new creation. {2 Corinthians 5:17}

{3} June: Do an Easter Egg Fitness Treasure Hunt, using your leftover plastic eggs, as a reminder that our bodies are living sacrifices. {Romans 12:1-2}

{4} July: Celebrate Independance Day, pointing out that we have freedom in Christ because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. {Galatians 5:1} Download this free printable to display in your home.

{5} August: Write a letter telling someone who has wronged you that you forgive them, in response to the grace that God lavished upon us through Christ's sacrifice on the cross.

{6} September: Do a service project for someone in need (or perform a Random Act of Kindness), reminding everyone that it is important to make sacrifices for others in the same way that Christ made the ultimate sacrifice for us on the cross.

{7} October: Go on a nature walk or take a trip to see the fall colors, discussing how God's creation reveals his glory - the same glory that was displayed through Christ's death and resurrection. {Psalm 19}

{8} November: Make a Thankful Tree and have everyone add things to it that God did for them this past year that they are thankful for, highlighting Jesus' death on the cross as the greatest thing he has ever done for us.

{9} December: Read through Max Lucado's One Incredible Moment, discussing why Jesus came to Earth and how his birth points the way to his death and resurrection.

{10} January: Choose One Word for your family to focus on in the new year - relate it to your desire to put Christ first. Make Family Art to hang in your home as a reminder. Have each family member choose a personal verse that they are going to memorize and meditate on that year. Make Scripture Hands to reinforce it.

{11} February: Make John 3:16 Valentines and pass them out to family and friends.

{12} March: Gather up all of your crosses or make Easter Crosses and display them in a prominent place in your home, along with this Free Easter Printable, to keep your focus on Christ's suffering during the approaching Easter season.

Most importantly, attend church together as a family all year long - not just at Christmas and Easter.

Do you have any ideas of your own, for keeping Easter alive year round?

Go here for more ways to make God apart of your everyday life and home, and be sure to link up your own ideas below!

About the Author: Erin Vick Franklin is the founder and director of Worthy of the Prize. Erin has a BBA in Marketing and Management from TCU and a Masters of Christian Education in Church Recreation from Southwestern Seminary. She is a published, award-winning author and poet. Purchase her book Worthy of the Prize Sports Camps: A Church's Guide to Implementing an Effective, Community-Reaching Christian Sports Camp to be used as an outreach tool for your church or mission organization. Erin is the wife of A, a Worship Pastor, and a work-at-home-momma to 2 crazy little boys, a and e.